Premiere for technological gift
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The plaque thanks NBC/Universal for enabling the School of Cinema to purchase a top-of-the-line mastering suite. From left: Cinema chair Richard Kerr, administrator Amely Jurgenliemk, post-production coordinator Marcus von Holtzendorff, Jean Benoît, Eastern regional director at Universal/Alliance Atlantis, Cinema technical director Emmet Henchey, and Steven Dorman, Executive VP at Universal Home Entertainment Canada, NBC.
Photo by andrew dobrowolskyj
The technology that has helped bring blockbuster movies such as King Kong and Lord of the Rings to life is now available at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, thanks to a $150,000 gift from NBC/Universal.
On April 11, nearly 20 people including Steven Dorman (BA 80), a VP at Universal, and Jean Benoît, a director at Universal/Alliance Atlantis, gathered at Concordia to toast the official opening of the NBC/Universal Mastering Suite.
The star of the show was the Discreet Smoke/Flame DI. Among many other things, this hulk of a machine can merge filmed images with computer-created ones and produce stupendous visual effects.
“As a working tool, it’s the preferred medium of nine out of 10 Hollywood directors, because it’s such a super machine in the production world,” said Cinema chair Richard Kerr. “This puts us in the major leagues of film post-production digital technology.”
Kerr credits Emmet Henchey, director of Cinema’s Technical Services department, and post-production coordinator Marcus von Holtzendorff with doing most of the legwork. In this particular situation, their technological expertise was essential, he said.
As an administrator, Henchey ensures the school has the equipment it requires to teach its curriculum, and seeks new acquisitions. Von Holtzendorff works with students to put the finishing touches on their films, usually through mastering or, with digital sound coordinator Tim Horlor, the final sound-mixing process.
When they started to shop for the machine last fall, their first stop was Discreet (a Montreal-based, manufacturer of cinematographic equipment and software, since purchased by Autodesk Media and Entertainment), which they thought would be way out of their league.
“We heard they had a nice espresso machine,” Henchey joked.
A coffee and a little while later, the equipment was theirs.
“They felt the need to support young filmmakers, and getting this kind of equipment into an educational environment was an important priority for them,” Henchey said.
One of the many benefits the technology offers to students is the ability to produce higher-resolution projects while still shooting on traditional Super 16 or 35 mm film stock.
This increased quality is a must in order to broadcast on large screens. Among other things, this means that Cinema students will now be able to meet the technical standards required by professional film festivals to show their work.
Kerr said the suite will most likely be made available to undergraduate students in their final year, those at the master’s level and animation students.
Henchey noted that although students will direct, they won’t necessarily be in the driver’s seat. “But because of their exposure to the technology, the quality of their work increases dramatically.”
Kerr agreed. “That’s how it’s done in the industry, usually. Someone sits beside you and does it. The learning curve on these machines is NASA-like. They’re very complicated pieces of technology.”
Fittingly, Marcus von Holtzendorff occupies the coveted position at the controls.
“We need technical engineers for the digital age. Technicians are no longer assistants: They’re collaborators,” Kerr said.